Gordon and I went and done it, thanks to a little help from Gerdon..

That's right fuckers, Gordon and I went and done it. I almost hate to give Gerdon credit but I have to. See, Gerdon got 'hold of me the other day to tell me that Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon and Red House Painters fame is playing in Louisville. On a Saturday night. For $15 bucks.

Damn, pure robbery.

We got our tickets and are making the short drive down I-71 to Louisville. I can't remember being so excited for a show. Kozelek is an enigma wrapped in an enigma...a cat I was sure I would never see live.

But here he is...close to home and on the heels of his new album April. A fantastic album from one of the most underrated artists going today. Don't be a chump...if you think it's too mellow or depressing or too long the first time around...listen a few more times. You'll come around.

Check this stuff out...first from April then a "new" version from SKM's classic, Ghosts of the Great Highway.

SKM Tonight in Bilbao
SKM Carry Me Ohio (jam version)!

BK

Wading through the turds of the last 10 years...

Ten years ago I was approaching my high school graduation. Crazy to believe it was ten fucking years ago! Since then, I've experienced a lot of shit and listened to a lot of music, including a lot of turds. Because of this, it's a pretty joyous experience to go back and listen to some of that music and find something you still can dig. I did that very thing tonight when I revisited a band called The Samples. I listened to these cats a lot back in 1998 - it was the soundtrack to my last two years of high school. Like many a thing, we grew apart as I grew older and they grew crappier (sorry it's true - their later stuff is junk). But, some of their stuff was fantastic and that's what I bring you tonight. The two tracks featured below still resonate with me for their countrified, uplifting happiness on one hand and the melancholy, reflective beauty on the other. As always, there is a nice use of the pedal steel guitar, the baddest instrument in all the land.

The Samples -- Take My Heart
The Samples -- Prophet of Doom

BK

NKOTB is Back in the house....

....and not a moment too soon. I hope everybody's still got their lunchboxes handy.


Yeah, so I'm minding my own business this morning, getting ready for work whilst watching the Today show, and who do they have playing???

New Kids on the Block........sigh.

They're back and they're touring.....and probably putting out a new album of predictably killer "hits".

It was at that moment this morning that I realized the true purpose of this blog and the thousand others like it. Somewhere this morning and young child was watching the Today show with his stay at home mom. Subconsciously this child was thinking to him or herself...."is this really all there is? Is this the music I have to look forward to for the rest of my life? This sucks."

Well, young child, yes....that would suck. But fortunately there is more out there than your standard NKOTB, Nsync, Backstreet Boys crap. And that is why we're here. If we can help one child find something good to listen to, then I say we've done our jobs.

So, with that......some non-NKOTB to get everyone's weekend started.

Pavement - Stop Breathin

This one's off the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain album....I love guitars throughout the second half of this song. Its probably my favorite Pavement song.

RR

Coming out of hibernation.....

Man, feels like its been damn near two months since our last pos.........wait.....what's that......it HAS BEEN TWO MONTHS!! Well, how about that?

How terrible. I mean, on one hand you can kinda understand where we're coming from....Kendall's house is buried in snow still, and well....let's just say Gerdon is taking the Bretty Favre thing rrreeaaalllyyy hard. As for me? I don't particularly have a good excuse. Chalk mine up to pure, unadulterated laziness.

Never again, I say!! I make you, the KGB reader (edit: listener) the solemn promise to never let this happen again.* Nothing but good tunes, and up-to-date** music news.

*Promise comes with the caveat that similar breaks will most certainly occur in the future.

**Music news actually not likely to be that up-to-date.

I must mention that I am certainly not speaking for the rest of us involved here at KGB. But I'm climbing back on the horse and am giving it another go-round.

So, to get us kick-started back into gear its gonna take a truly special song.

There's tons of new stuff we could listen to, but I'm saying lets go back to our roots. How about some Dylan.....

Bob Dylan - Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again

See, that helps.

Now, how bout one more for the road. Let's hit up some Dead with this one.....I've been listening to a retarded amount of Dead recently.

Grateful Dead - China Cat Sunflower

Until next time.

RR

Snowed In EP

Alright, it wasn't this bad but still.....come on.

Damn! The Cincinnati area received a foot of snow over the last two days, relegating me to the abode. Other than a few visits outside with the pup (who would never come in if it were up to her), I've been snowed in. Not all is lost however; I've had lots of time to do very important things including my taxes, preparing for my fantasy baseball draft (booyah), cleaning, and drinking whiskey of course. Thus, in honor of my snowed-in weekend, here's an EP of songs that tell you all about my cold, snowy, sleepful weekend.

Mendoza Line -- Tax Me
Dolorean -- Violence In Snowy Fields
Wrinkle Neck Mules -- Failure of Liver
Ass Ponys -- Last Night It Snowed
Jack Johnson -- Sleep Through The Static
The Band -- Acadian Driftwood
Avett Brothers -- Go To Sleep

It's good stuff, ya'll.

BK

I miss you already Brett

The breaking news of the century is that gunslinger Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers, your favorite QB and mine, is going to hang up the cleats for a better life in greener pastures. He's retiring folks. After 18 years in the NFL (17 of which with the Packers) he's amassed numerous outstanding records and accolades, he's excited and entertained the nation, and he's proven himself to be an outstanding person. He sure did some great things for the Packers and as a Packers fan I can say he will be missed. So, here are a few songs to let you know how I'm feeling about this whole mess.

My first notion is to say don't go Favre. You're still at the top of your game. You have a young and exciting team to lead and that second Super Bowl title could be yours. I think The Band said it the best:

The Band - Don't Do It

Next I'd like to remember Favre for what he was and still is - a bad ass on and off the football field. The Drive-by Truckers pay homage well to Steve McQueen for kicking ass and being an all around tough guy. I think we can substitute the name Brett Favre in for Steve McQueen in a couple choruses:

Drive-by Truckers - Steve McQueen

And, to finish out my man-crush on Brett, let's just remember the good times with Norah Jones.

The Little Willies - For the Good Times

AG

[buy The Band, Drive-by Truckers, The Little Willies]

Top 5 Songs of Drink

Dispensers of fine ale at Young's in Hammersmith, UK

It’s finally time for another Top 5 here at KGB and I will gladly raise a glass to that. In fact, many glasses, as was done this fine weekend when music cohort Bryan Kendall and posse rolled into Santa Barbara for a weekend in the sun. We sampled many home, local, and regional brews and didn’t turn one away. So, in honor of that festival of beer, let’s hear about some songs relating to the honest brew, press, and distillation that we love so well. These can be songs about drinking (in moderation or otherwise) or about a specific drink. So, with out further mention, give me your best:

Top 5 Songs of Drink

AG

Another man done gone...

Thank you The Onion for this bad boy. Communism never looked more fun.

A sad turn of events for Communists all over the world. One of the leading comrades has decided to retire (really, can you ever retire from Communism? I think not). Fidel Castro was no member of the KGB, but they were boys, no doubt about that. Sometimes reality has a way of kicking you in the nuts and it appears Castro's hath finally been kicketh. Lucky for him (if you can say that for someone with the health problems he currently has), his reality is not like the reality described by one Nick Lowe in the following. Check it out:

Nick Lowe -- Nutted By Reality from Jesus of Cool (Reissued)
[buy Jesus of Cool here]

In other completely unrelated news, the Hold Steady is currently preparing to release a new album, much to the enjoyment of myself and probably Rutledge too. The band shares some of the details with your friends at Pitchfork, right here.

BK

Finding a job sucks

So, one of the reasons I haven't posted much lately, is that I'm finishing up graduate school. Lame excuse, I know....but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) its true.

With that comes the horrendous, unenviable task of finding a job, or in my case.....finding yet another place to go to school for the next two years. It really is never ending. But its something that has to be done.

Now the funny thing is, I'm excited about the opportunity to move somewhere new. I've lived in Kentucky and Nashville (the urban version of Kentucky) for my entire life....so this will be exciting. But over the course of the past few weeks I've all but convinced myself that I'm living in like 10 different places. It changes every two or three days. So, I figured I'd give you a small bit of insight into some of those places that I've told myself, "Yep, that's the place. Can't wait to move there" only to change my mind the next morning.

So, let's get going. Here are a few....in no particular order.

1. Boston
Pros: See Picture. A. W. E. S. O. M. E. city.

Cons: Very cold. Gerdon lives there. HA! Just kidding buddy.

Song: Ben Harper - She's Only Happy In the Sun

2. Denver

Pros: Beautiful. Never been there. Skiing.

Cons: Snow. Lots of snow.

Song: Yonder Mountain String Band - High on a Hilltop

3. Louisville

Pros: Familiarity. Lots of Friends there. Comfortable.

Cons: What's the saying......Everything changes, everything stays the same? Something like that.

Song: Ben Kweller - Different but the Same

4. South Carolina
Pros: I like living in the south. Close to the ocean.

Cons: Hot.

Song: Ryan Adams - Carolina Rain


5. Dayton, OH
Pros: Meh.

Cons: Meh.

Song: Elliott Smith - Whatever

6. San Francisco
Pros: Probably the most different than what I'm used to.

Cons: Mapquest says its 2307.83 miles away from Nashville. Damn.

Song: Coconut Records - West Coast

7. Florida (either Gainesville or Tallahassee) Pros: Currently the favorite. I've wanted to live there my entire life. Wife wants to live there, too.

Cons: Hurricanes

Song: The Hold Steady - Citrus


So, I suppose we'll see. I still have a couple months before this process rrreeeaaaalllllyyyyy gets underway. I'm excited though.

RR

B-A-N-J-O

So, I've been meaning to make a couple posts recently, but haven't exactly gotten around to doing so....

To remedy this, I shall make a couple of posts today. And what better way to get us going than with a couple of banjo songs. Banjo.

The Avett Brothers - Talk of Indolence

Sufjan Stevens - The Transfiguration

Old Crow Medicine Show - I Hear Them All

That's good for now.

RR